IU and Kim Tae-Ri fans get into ugly fan war over whose Baeksang win was more deserved

The 61st Baeksang Arts Awards took place yesterday in Seoul. Without a doubt, one of the most hotly contested categories was the one for the Best Actress. We had Jang Na Ra (Good Partner), IU (When Life Gives You Tangerines) , Kim Tae-Ri (Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born), Go Min-Si (Frog) and Kim Hye-yoon (Lovely Runner) in the nominees. All of them delivered top-class performances on their shows. However, the award was won by Kim Tae-Ri for Jeongnyeon: A Star Is Born. She played the role of a Pansori artiste in the show that was set in the period when Korea got liberation after the war. In the series, she played 12 different characters. However, Jeongnyeon was not a hit overseas.

Fans of IU are arguing that this season, she should have won for When Life Gives You Tangerines. The extremely moving show got immense widespread acclaim. It is also in the Top 10 of Netflix global. IU played the part of a mother and daughter in this nuanced show about women breaking free from the shackles of patriarchy to seek agency for themselves. Park Go-Bum was also exceptional as Gwan-shik her husband in the series. They felt IU should have won the award instead of Kim Tae-Ri.

However, people have defended the jury saying that Kim Tae-Ri was superlative in the series. She played 12 different characters with different nuances. Kim Tae-Ri also invested three years to learn Pansori so that it looked extremely authentic on screen. People are simply shocked that someone could find Kim Tae-Ri undeserving. Fans of the actress lashed out saying that while Kim Tae-Ri could have done a show like When Life Gives You Tangerines IU could not have pulled off Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born. Neutrals have said there is nothing wrong is losing in front of a competitor as good as Kim Tae-Ri in that show.